Corner construction



Oct. 25, 1966 E. F. HAMILTON CORNER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i i I..l

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Filed Feb. '7, 1964 United States Patent F 3,281,104 CORNER CONSTRUCTIONEarl F. Hamilton, Columbus, Ind., assiguor to Hamilton Cosco, Inc.,Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed Feb. 7, 1964, Ser. No.343,337 10 Claims. (Cl. 248-488) This invention relates to a cornerconstruction, and more particularly to a corner construction forinterconnecting a shelf to a supporting leg.

It is an object of the invention to provide a corner construction forinterconnecting a shelf to a supporting leg which will not detract fromthe appearance of the article employing such construction, which can bequickly and easily assembled, and which will prove sturdy and durablemuse.

This invention is concerned with the interconnection of a tubular leg toa shelf having a supporting surface provided with a depending borderskirt. The supporting surface and skirt of said shelf have a cut-outportion at the corner of the shelf disposed in abutting engagement witha pair of adjacent sides ofthe leg. A generally triangularly shapedchanneled brace having a web interconnecting a pair of arms is carriedunder said shelf with said pair of arms abutting the adjacent faces ofthe supporting surface and bead. Fastening means are provided withportions received in openings formed in the leg and the web of the bracefor interconnecting said brace and thus the shelf to the leg. The braceweb extends diagonally across the corner of the shelf and the portionsof said fastening means received in the leg and web openings areangularly offset with respect to each other whereby said fastening meanswill bear against the web for bindingly retaining the edges of the bracearms against the shelf skirt to rigidly interconnect said shelf and leg.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent fromthe more detailed description which follows and from the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a corner construction embodying the inventionwith portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken on the line 2-2of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken on the line 3-3of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a modified form of the corner constructionshown in FIG. 1 with portions thereof being broken away;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 6--6 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the brace shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, a tubular leg 10 is interconnected to the corner ofa shelf 12 lying in a plane generally normal to said leg and comprisinga supporting surface 14 provided with a depending border skirt 16terminating in an inwardly rolled bead 17. The supporting surface 14 andskirt 16 have a cut-out portion, as at 18, at the corner of the shelf.The cut-out portion 18 provides a mounting seat for the leg 10 with theends of said skirt and supporting surface abutting a pair of adjacentsides of the leg 10.

A brace 20 is carried on the underside of the shelf 12 and comprises aweb 22 interconnecting upper and lower arms 24 and 25. The arms 24 and25 have a generally triangular shaped configuration and are providedwith cutout portions 26 remote from the web 22 which abut a pair ofadjacent faces on the leg 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the arm 24 abuts thelower face of the supporting surface 14 in face to face contact, and theedges of the arm 25 abut the upper face of the head 17 in face to facecontact.

3,281,104 Patented Oct. 25, 1966 ICC Desirably, the edges of the arms 24and 25 are bent downwardly, as at 27 and 28, with the edges 27 abuttingthe inner face of the skirt 16 and the edges 28 being received betweenthe bead 17 and the skirt 16.

A channeled bracket 30 having a web 32 interconnecting a pair ofparallel arms 34 extends under the shelf along one side thereof. The web32 projects 'beyond one end of the arms 34 and has its end remote fromsaid arms hooked, as at 36, for locking reception in an opening 38formed in the leg 10. Intermediate its ends, the bracket 30 is curved,as at 40, and an opening 41 is formed in the web 32 within the extent ofthe curved portion 40. Said opening 41 receives the shank of a bolt 42projecting through an elongated slot 44 formed in the brace web 22. Thebolt 42 is interconnected to the brace 20 and bracket 30 by a nut 45disposed Within the extent of the arms 34 and abutting the adjacentfaces of said arms in face to face contact to prevent rotation of saidnut upon tighten ing of the bolt. With the web 22 extending diagonallyacross the corner of the shelf 12 and the bracket 30 being offset at 40,the axis of the bolt 42 will be normal to the plane of the web 22 sothat upon tightening of the bolt within the nut 45 the brace arms 24 and25 will be bindingly retained against the shelf skirt 16 on oppositesides of the leg 10 for thus rigidly interconnecting said shelf to theleg. Tightening of the bolt further causes the brace web to be drawnagainst the bracket web 32 to cause the arms 34 to bear against theskirt 16.

A modified form of the corner construction is shown in FIG. 4. In thisembodiment, the leg 10 is interconnected to a shelf 12 comprising asupporting surface 14' and a peripheral border skirt 16' terminating inan inwardly rolled bead 17'. The skirt 16 and supporting surface 14' arecut-out at the corner of the shelf, as at 18, to form a mounting seatfor the leg 10 with the edges of said skirt and bead abutting a pair ofadjacent faces on said leg.

The brace 20 is carried against the underside of the shelf 12' with itsarms 24 and 25 abutting the adjacent faces of the supporting surface 14'and bead 17'. The downwardly extending edges 27 of the arm 24 abut theinner face of the skirt 16' and the downwardly extending edges 28 of thearm 25 are interposed between the skirt 16' and bead 17. The cut-outportions 26 of said arms abut the same adjacent faces of the leg 10' asthe edges of the cut-out portion 18.

The brace 20, and thus the shelf 12', is interconnected to the leg 10 bya stud 46 having one of its ends flattened, as at 48, and provided witha hook 50 lockingly received in an opening 52 formed in the leg 10'. Theopposite end of said stud is threaded and projects through the slot 44in the brace web 22 for reception of a nut 54 adapted to be drawn upagainst the brace web 22 to cause the ends of said web and the edges ofthe arms 24 and 25 to be bindingly retained against the shelf skirt 16on opposite sides of the leg 10'. As shown, the Web 22 extendsdiagonally across the corner of the shelf 12, and the ends of the stud46 are angularly offset with respect to each other so that the threadedportion of said stud lies on an axis normal to the plane of the web 22.Desirably, a spacer 56 is formed on the stud 46 intermediate its hookedand threaded ends. Said spacer abuts the adjacent faces of the arms 24and 25 in face to face contact to prevent rotation of the stud 46 withrespect to the brace 20 as the nut 54 is drawn up on said stud.

While the invention has been illustrated as an interconnection between ashelf and a leg having a rectangular cross-section, it is to beunderstood, of course, that said leg may have any desiredcross-sectional configuration.

I claim:

1. The combination of a shelf and a tubular leg with at least two sides,said shelf having a supporting surface provided with a depending borderskirt, said supporting surface and skirt,having a cut-out portion at thecorner opposite sides of said cut out' portion, and fastening meanshaving portions received in openings formed in said leg and web, saidfastening means bearing against said web for bindingly retaining saidedges of the arms against said skirt. 2

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which the web on said braceextends diagonally across the corner of said shelf, and the ends ofsaid'fastening means are angularly offset with respect to each other.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that saidbrace arms have cut-out portions at their ends remote from said web, theedges of said cut-out portions abut-ting said pair of adjacent sides ofsaid leg.

4. .The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which said skirt terminatesin an inwardly rolled bead, and said arms abut the adjacent faces ofsaid supporting surface and bead, oneof said arms having its edgesremote from said 'web interposed between said skirt and bead.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which said fastening meanscomprises a bracket abutting the skirt along one side of .said cut-outportion and having a hook at one of its ends lockingly received in theopening in the leg, and a threaded fastener extending through openingsin said brace web and bracket for bindingly interconnecting saidbracket, brace, and shelf to said leg.

6. The invention as set forth in claim 5 in which said bracket comprisesa web interconnecting a pair of parallel arms abutting the arms on saidbrace in face to face contact, said bracket being bindingly retainedbetween said brace Web and the skirt along said one side of said cut-outportion.

7. The invention as set forth in claim 6 with the addition that thebracket web projects beyond one end of the bracket arms and is lockinglyreceived in the leg opening, said bracket being curved intermediate itslength with the opening for said fastener being formed in the web ofsaid bracket within the extent of said curve whereby the axis of saidfastener is normal to the plane of said brace web.

8. The invention as set forth in claim 5 in which said bracket comprisesa Web interconnecting a pair of parallel arms abutting the arms on saidbrace in face to face contact, and said fastening means comprises a boltcarried in the opening in the brace web and received threadablyconnected to'a nut interposed between the bracket arms, said nutabutting the adjacent faces of the bracket arms in face to face contact.

9. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which said fastening meanscomprises a stud having a hook at one of its ends lockingly received inthe opening in said leg and having its opposite end threaded andprojecting through the opening in said web for the reception of a nut.

10. The invention as set'forth in claim 9 With the addition that aspacer is mounted on said stud intermediate its ends, said spacerabutting the arms on said brace in face to face contact.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,304,481 12/1942Shannon 108-153 2,605,158 7/1952 Nash 248188 2,984,362 5/1961 Hamilton108--111 3,173,385 3/1965 Tucker 108-106 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, PrimaryExaminer.

W. D. LOULAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. THE COMBINATION OF A SHELF AND A TUBULAR LEG WITH AT LEAST TWO SIDES,SAID SHELF HAVING A SUPPORTING SURFACE PPROVIDED WITH A DEPENDING BORDERSKIRT, SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE AND SKIRT HAVING A CUR-OUT PORTION AT THECORNER OF THE SHELF ABUTTING A PAIR OF ADJACENT SIDES OF SAID LEG, AGENERALLY TRIANGULARLY SHAPED CHANNELED BRACE HAVING A WEBINTERCONNECTING A PAIR OF ARMS ABUTTING SAID SKIRT ON OPPOSITE SIDES OFSAID CUT-OUT PORTION, AND FASTENING MEANS HAVING PORTIONS RECEIVED INOPENINGS FORMED IN SAID LEG AND WEB, SAID FASTENING MEANS BEARINGAGAINST WEB FOR BINDINGLY RETAINING SAID EDGES OF THE ARMS AGAINST SAIDSKIRT.